Chapter 145: The Aggrieved Little Chubby Boy

After hanging out for a while, Chen Xin left first, leaving Zhou Hao and his two younger cousins to go meet Zhou Hao's mother.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Zhou Hao's mother had already booked a small private dining room and was waiting for them.

"Didn't you say there was a young lady with you? Where is she?"

Not seeing the girlfriend her son had mentioned, Zhou Hao's mother felt a slight sense of disappointment.

"Chen Xin went back; she had things to attend to." Zhou Hao rubbed his nose with a hint of shyness. "Mom, why did you come over without even giving a heads-up?"

"I had some urgent business at the company to handle and decided to have dinner with a few old friends while I was here." Disappointed, Zhou Hao's mother couldn't be bothered to entertain her son anymore. She patted Zhou Yu, who was acting coquettishly. "How many days do you two have left before your studies finish? Shall your eldest aunt sign you up for a tour group afterward?"

"No, no, Big Brother said he'd take us back to the old family home to hang out and keep Grandpa company." Zhou Yu waved his hands frantically. He didn't dare reveal that Chen Xin was going too, afraid that his eldest aunt might launch a surprise inspection and his older brother would pin him to the ground and beat him up.

"That's fine too. Spend more time with the old man; your grandpa dotes on you two little ones the most." Zhou Hao's mother glanced at her watch and stood up. "I'll head over to the company first since there's nothing else here; I still have a meeting to attend. I have a flight early tomorrow morning to check out a new project, so I won't ramble with you boys any longer."

Lightheartedly abandoning her son and nephews, Zhou Hao's mother got into a car and left, accompanied by her secretary.

"Bro, should we hang out a bit more or head back?"

"Let's go back first. You guys still have classes tomorrow, and you can come back to play after they're over." Thinking of Chen Xin, who had left early, Zhou Hao had no patience to go wild with the two little rascals.

The chili oil condiments Chen Xin made were exceptionally popular. Some classmates even wanted to pay for the ingredients and beg Chen Xin to make more, but Senior Sister Wei shot the idea down. She sternly remarked that Chen Xin wasn't there to cook for them—they should eat whatever was available or endure if there wasn't any. Did they expect to stop eating and drinking entirely once Chen Xin left?

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the study period was coming to an end.

Zhou Hao had gone back three days ago to pick up Zhang Zhang, and he called last night to say their flight would arrive around noon today, estimating they would be home by five o'clock. Chen Xin woke up bright and early to wrap things up. She skipped lunch entirely, eager to finish all handovers as quickly as possible so she could go pick up Zhang Zhang.

"Xiao Xin, are you free tonight? Everyone's planning to get together for a meal," Lu Qing approached her, offering to help pack her things.

"Not tonight, I have plans. How about this? I'll treat everyone to lunch tomorrow to thank you all for taking care of me over the past month."

Chen Xin looked up and announced this to the classmates in the study room. Everyone agreed to gather the next day at noon, but Lu Qing still refused to give up.

"Then I'll treat you tonight. You can bring a friend along."

Chen Xin frowned. She couldn't quite figure out why Lu Qing kept hovering around her lately. It didn't feel like he was trying to woo her, yet he constantly made a show of expressing his concern, which felt thoroughly awkward.

"Really, I can't. I've already made plans with someone."

"Bring your friend along then, I don't mind."

Chen Xin desperately wanted to snap at him, "Well, I mind!" But in this environment, if she actually said that, Lu Qing would undoubtedly lose face completely.

"Lu Qing, are you ever going to quit? There's still plenty of work to do, how much longer are you planning to slack off?" Senior Sister Wei threw her pen down, showing zero regard for Lu Qing's pride. "Chen Xin already said she has plans, why do you keep pestering her? Do you think you're that handsome?"

Hearing Senior Sister Wei's words, Lu Qing's entire face flushed crimson. He looked furious yet managed to suppress the outburst, then darkened his expression, turned around, and went back to his own desk.

Chen Xin shot a grateful look at Senior Sister Wei, accelerated her packing, and swiftly escaped amidst the gazes of everyone in the room.

"Is Lu Qing trying to pursue Chen Xin? But doesn't Chen Xin have a boyfriend already? The one who accompanied her to the school last time. It seems Chen Xin made those condiments at her boyfriend's place this time."

"Who knows? It doesn't really seem like Lu Qing is trying to woo her, but he's always clinging to her. It gives me a headache just thinking about it."

The girls sitting nearby whispered among themselves while hurriedly continuing their work, terrified that Senior Sister Wei might erupt and scold them as well.

In truth, Lu Qing wasn't trying to pursue Chen Xin at all; he simply wanted to use Chen Xin as a stepping stone to get close to Zhou Hao.

The other classmates didn't know, but Lu Qing was well aware of Zhou Hao's background. Despite his careless exterior, Lu Qing's mind was constantly scheming.

Initially, he hadn't thought the female exchange student was anything special, but he later accidentally discovered Zhou Hao dining with a rather influential local businessman who seemed to treat Zhou Hao with great respect. Lu Qing immediately set his sights on the opportunity. He guessed that Chen Xin was definitely going out with Zhou Hao tonight, so he wanted to seize the chance to meet Zhou Hao and build a connection. Little did he know that Chen Xin wouldn't give him the time of day—even after offering to treat her friend as well, she still refused. Lu Qing concluded that Chen Xin must be afraid of others discovering Zhou Hao's identity and worried people would think she was gold-digging.

Chen Xin had no idea Lu Qing's imagination was running so wild. Her refusal to attend his dinner invitation was simply because Zhang Zhang had arrived, and she wanted to properly take the little fatty out for a good meal.

After packing her belongings and organizing her luggage, Chen Xin carried the lighter bags over to Zhou Hao's place.

Seeing that they still had over an hour before returning, Chen Xin decided to use the time to make soup dumplings and steam them so tomorrow's breakfast would essentially be taken care of.

The pork aspic for the soup dumplings had been prepared in advance. Having made some minor missteps the previous time, Chen Xin adjusted the amount of pork skin this time and added two extra kinds of spices while simmering it to make the aspic even more flavorful.

The minced pork filling for the dumplings was chopped by hand, which gave the meat a much better texture and chewiness.

Once the meat was finely chopped, she added salt, light soy sauce, a pinch of white sugar, cooking wine, and sesame oil, stirring continuously in one direction. During the stirring process, she added small amounts of water until the meat completely absorbed the liquid and began to stick to the bowl.

Taking another basin, she added flour and poured boiling water into it in a circular motion, stirring until it formed flaky clumps. Then she added cold water and began kneading the dough until it became smooth, firm, and cohesive. She covered the dough with a damp, clean cloth and left it to rest at room temperature for half an hour.

Chen Xin had kneaded the dough before mincing the meat so as not to waste time waiting.

Once the dough had rested, she diced the skin aspic and mixed it into the seasoned pork filling along with finely chopped scallions. Then, she was ready to start wrapping.

Not knowing how many days they would stay here, Chen Xin didn't dare make too many—estimating around sixty dumplings in total. She lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, placed the dumplings on top, and froze them directly. When they wanted to eat them, they could simply place them in a steamer for ten minutes or so.

Just as she finished making the dumplings and hadn't yet had time to clean the kitchen, she heard the door unlock. Peeking out, she saw Zhou Hao carrying a backpack and holding a chubby little boy in his arms as they entered the apartment.

Upon seeing his little aunt, the chubby boy, who had been smiling earlier, suddenly burst into tears. Heartbroken, Chen Xin quickly removed her apron, rushed over to scoop him into her arms, and cooed softly until she finally quieted the little fellow down after a long while.